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Scoop
a day ago
- Business
- Scoop
Communities Call For Shut Down Of Methanex
Press Release – Climate Justice Taranaki The action follows a three day Together for Te Taiao wnanga at Owae marae with community and indigenous experts from across Aotearoa, Aboriginal and Pasifika nations, who have been struggling for indigenous rights and environmental justice for generations. Climate Justice Taranaki (CJT) and other activists from across the country protested at the Canadian owned Methanex gas-fed plant in Taranaki today. 'The action was to highlight why communities across Aotearoa face rising energy prices yet the New Zealand government gives hundreds of millions of dollars in tax payer subsidies to the Canadian gas company and pursues, rather than transitions the country off fossil fuels,' said CJT spokesperson Tuhi-Ao Bailey. The action follows a three day Together for Te Taiao wānanga at Owae marae with community and indigenous experts from across Aotearoa, Aboriginal and Pasifika nations, who have been struggling for indigenous rights and environmental justice for generations. 'As keynote speaker Tina Ngata explained, the extraction of resources from indigenous peoples' territories has been in progress since the Doctrine of Discovery papal bulls in 1493 encouraged European monarchies to send out their people and new corporations to steal resources and slaughter other nations under the ideology of white supremacy. This ideology based theft has never stopped and now leaves the world with the largest environmental and economic catastrophe humankind has ever faced,' said Bailey. 'This company has absolutely no morals. While working families and vulnerable communities are suffering increasing energy prices, Methanex has received $300 million worth of free carbon credit subsidies in the last 10 years to stop the company leaving Aotearoa. They have also claimed they can't afford to pay tax for the last 2 years but managed to pay out $70 million to their overseas shareholders, while taking the gas they buy at cheap rates from NZ wells, and selling it off at five times the rate to NZ residential users. It's criminal.' 'On top of that, the New Zealand government recently removed the 2018 ban on new oil and gas extraction offshore and announced a $200 million fund for oil and gas companies like OMV and Todd, to increase fossil gas exploration. This has been widely condemned by other countries and seen us removed from the international Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), putting our international trade at risk.' 'The company consumes around 40% of New Zealand's dwindling gas supply to make methanol, of which 95% is exported overseas to create fuels, plastics and other chemicals. Ironically on the company website they proudly claim the chemicals are sustainable – if made from renewable resources – which they are not.' 'The local hapu and wider community have objected to the methanol plant since it was installed under the National government in 1981 and again when the offshore Pohokura gas well and pipeline was added in 2006 to feed the plant. The company nowadays gives back a tiny fraction of what they already receive in tax cuts as branded sponsorships which silence much of the community's objection to the gigantic ugly factory and the health impacts of its localised pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.' 'Communities in Aotearoa shouldn't be subsidising a Canadian corporation while struggling to heat their homes,' said Bailey. 'Our taxes should be funding initiatives to urgently transition us off fossil fuels such as free public transport, community-owned solar cooperatives, onshore wind farms, and geothermal projects that keep energy affordable and profits local. We want Methanex shut down now and an end to gas extraction.'
Scoop
a day ago
- Business
- Scoop
Communities Call For Shut Down Of Methanex
Press Release – Climate Justice Taranaki The action follows a three day Together for Te Taiao wnanga at Owae marae with community and indigenous experts from across Aotearoa, Aboriginal and Pasifika nations, who have been struggling for indigenous rights and environmental justice for generations. Climate Justice Taranaki (CJT) and other activists from across the country protested at the Canadian owned Methanex gas-fed plant in Taranaki today. 'The action was to highlight why communities across Aotearoa face rising energy prices yet the New Zealand government gives hundreds of millions of dollars in tax payer subsidies to the Canadian gas company and pursues, rather than transitions the country off fossil fuels,' said CJT spokesperson Tuhi-Ao Bailey. The action follows a three day Together for Te Taiao wānanga at Owae marae with community and indigenous experts from across Aotearoa, Aboriginal and Pasifika nations, who have been struggling for indigenous rights and environmental justice for generations. 'As keynote speaker Tina Ngata explained, the extraction of resources from indigenous peoples' territories has been in progress since the Doctrine of Discovery papal bulls in 1493 encouraged European monarchies to send out their people and new corporations to steal resources and slaughter other nations under the ideology of white supremacy. This ideology based theft has never stopped and now leaves the world with the largest environmental and economic catastrophe humankind has ever faced,' said Bailey. 'This company has absolutely no morals. While working families and vulnerable communities are suffering increasing energy prices, Methanex has received $300 million worth of free carbon credit subsidies in the last 10 years to stop the company leaving Aotearoa. They have also claimed they can't afford to pay tax for the last 2 years but managed to pay out $70 million to their overseas shareholders, while taking the gas they buy at cheap rates from NZ wells, and selling it off at five times the rate to NZ residential users. It's criminal.' 'On top of that, the New Zealand government recently removed the 2018 ban on new oil and gas extraction offshore and announced a $200 million fund for oil and gas companies like OMV and Todd, to increase fossil gas exploration. This has been widely condemned by other countries and seen us removed from the international Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), putting our international trade at risk.' 'The company consumes around 40% of New Zealand's dwindling gas supply to make methanol, of which 95% is exported overseas to create fuels, plastics and other chemicals. Ironically on the company website they proudly claim the chemicals are sustainable – if made from renewable resources – which they are not.' 'The local hapu and wider community have objected to the methanol plant since it was installed under the National government in 1981 and again when the offshore Pohokura gas well and pipeline was added in 2006 to feed the plant. The company nowadays gives back a tiny fraction of what they already receive in tax cuts as branded sponsorships which silence much of the community's objection to the gigantic ugly factory and the health impacts of its localised pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.' 'Communities in Aotearoa shouldn't be subsidising a Canadian corporation while struggling to heat their homes,' said Bailey. 'Our taxes should be funding initiatives to urgently transition us off fossil fuels such as free public transport, community-owned solar cooperatives, onshore wind farms, and geothermal projects that keep energy affordable and profits local. We want Methanex shut down now and an end to gas extraction.'
